How do you choose a wine when you don't know much about it?
Entering a wine shop doesn't have to be an ordeal. Here are five simple tips to help you choose the right wine.
Choosing a wine by its description is a bit like choosing a book by its summary. The advice of your bookseller or wine merchant will guide you, but you have to accept a certain leap into the unknown. If not, the following five tips should help you get started.
1- Give context and trust
Imposing a framework is an excellent way of orchestrating choices. Daring to give a price (even a low one, e.g. "no more than 15 euros") can considerably reduce the options. Or set the scene: you bring this wine for an aperitif without food, for a raclette or as a gift without knowing the menu.
2- Select a few wines you've really liked
If you think of it, the next time you drink a wine you like (at the bar, in a restaurant, after a trip to the wine shop), make a note of the name of the estate and the cuvée. If you show the wine merchant a short list of your latest favorites (still in your phone, for example), he'll probably be able to use it to stay in the mood.
3- Talk about your tastes
In the morning, do you prefer orange juice or sugar-free tea? If you hate grapefruit and tahini (sesame seed puree), chances are you're not a fan of bitterness. Using a taste metaphor can help you get your point across. For example: "I'd like a wine that's closer to apricot nectar (gourmand, tangy and sweet), than to smoked tea (dry, slightly tannic, a touch austere)."
4- Identify a region or grape variety
If you notice that you've liked several wines from Beaujolais or from the Riesling grape variety, that's already a good thread to pull. Try wines in your comfort zone (another Beaujolais, another Riesling). Gradually, you can ask to extend the field of discoveries to nearby neighbors (a Gamay from Auvergne, a Sylvaner), and thus move further and further away from your starting point if you feel like it.
5- Choose blindly
Or in other words, on a whim. You're not in the mood for conversation. You're looking to get out as quickly as you came in, but with a bottle under your arm. There's nothing wrong with choosing a bottle by price or label alone. A word of warning, though: a wine that has had time to rest in the bottle is likely to be more enjoyable. The 2023 vintage of this bottle rather than the young 2024 of the one next to it. Chance can sometimes do things well.
